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Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. Physically and geologically, Europe is a subcontinent or large peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and to the south by the Mediterranean and the Caucasus. Europe's boundary to the east is vague, but has traditionally been given as the Ural Mountains and Caspian Sea to the southeast: the Urals are considered by most to be a geographical and tectonic landmark separating Asia from Europe.

For detailed description of the Asia-Europe boundary see this article. See also Geographic criteria for EU membership.

Europe is the world's second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10,790,000 km² (4,170,000 sq mi) or 7.1% of the Earth's surface, and is only larger than Australia. In terms of population, it is the third-largest continent (Asia and Africa are larger) with a population of more than 700,000,000, or about 11% of the world's population.

Etymology

In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. For Homer, Europé (Greek: Ευρωπη; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece, and by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to lands to the north.

The Greek term Europe has been derived from Greek words meaning broad (eurys) and face (ops) -- broad having been an epitheton of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion; see Prithvi (Plataia). A minority, however, suggest this Greek popular etymology is really based on a Semitic word such as the Akkadian erebu meaning "sunset" (see also Erebus). From the Middle Eastern vantagepoint, the sun does set over Europe, the lands to the west. Likewise, Asia is sometimes thought to have derived from the Akkadian word asu, meaning "sunrise", and is the land to the east from a Mesopotamian perspective.

History

Europe has a long history of cultural and economic achievement, starting as far back as the Palaeolithic, although this is true for the rest of the Old World as well. The recent discovery at Monte Poggiolo, Italy, of thousands of hand-shaped stones, tentatively carbon-dated to 800,000 years ago, may prove to be of particular importance.

The origins of Western democratic and individualistic culture are often attributed to Ancient Greece, though numerous other distinct influences, in particular Christianity, can also be credited with the spread of concepts like egalitarianism and universality of law.

The Roman Empire divided the continent along the Rhine and Danube for several centuries. Following the decline of the Roman Empire, Europe entered a long period of changes arising from what is known as the Age of Migrations. That period has been known as the "Dark Ages" to Renaissance thinkers. During this time, the Ottoman Empire conquered Istanbul formerly known as Constantinople and finished the Byzantine Empire and became the most important power of all Europe. Isolated monastic communities in Ireland and elsewhere carefully safeguarded and compiled written knowledge accumulated previously. The Renaissance and the New Monarchs marked the start of a period of discovery, exploration, and increase in scientific knowledge. In the 15th century Portugal opened the age of discoveries, soon followed by Spain. They were later joined by France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in building large colonial empires with vast holdings in Africa, the Americas, and Asia.

After the age of discovery, the ideas of democracy took hold in Europe. Struggles for independence arose, most notably in France during the period known as the French Revolution. This led to vast upheaval in Europe as these revolutionary ideas propagated across the continent. The rise of democracy led to increased tensions within Europe on top of the tensions already existing due to competition within the New World. The most famous of these conflicts was when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power and set out on a conquest, forming a new French Empire that soon collapsed. After these conquests Europe stabilised, but the old foundations were already beginning to crumble.

The Industrial Revolution started in the United Kingdom in the late 18th century, leading to a move away from agriculture, much greater general prosperity and a corresponding increase in population. Many of the states in Europe took their present form in the aftermath of World War I. From the end of World War II through the end of the Cold War, Europe was divided into two major political and economic blocks: Communist nations in Eastern Europe and capitalist countries in Western Europe and Southern Europe. Around 1990, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Eastern bloc disintegrated.

Geography and extent

Geographically Europe is a part of the larger landmass known as Eurasia. The continent begins at the Ural Mountains in Russia, which define Europe's eastern boundary with Asia. The southeast boundary with Asia isn't universally defined. Most commonly the Ural or, alternatively, the Emba river can serve as possible boundaries. The boundary continues with the Caspian Sea, and then the Araxes river in the Caucasus, and on to the Black Sea; the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles conclude the Asian boundary. The Mediterranean Sea to the south separates Europe from Africa. The western boundary is the Atlantic Ocean, but Iceland, much farther away than the nearest points of Africa, is also often included in Europe. There is ongoing debate on where the geographical centre of Europe is. For detailed description of the boundary between Asia and Europe see here.

Due to political, cultural and geographical differences, there are various – and not mutually agreeable – descriptions of Europe's boundary. Therefore, some territories are variably included in Europe while others are not.

Almost all European countries are members of the Council of Europe, the exceptions being Belarus, and the Holy See (Vatican City).

The idea of the European continent is not held across all cultures. Some non-European geographical texts refer to the continent of Eurasia, or to the European peninsula, given that Europe is not surrounded by sea. In the past concepts such as Christendom were deemed more important.

In another usage, Europe is increasingly being used as a short-form for the European Union (EU) and its members, currently consisting of 25 member states, acceding and candidate countries negotiating for membership, and several other countries expected to begin negotiations in the future (see Enlargement of the European Union). This definition, however, notably excludes Russia and other non-members (e.g., Switzerland).

Physical features

In terms of shape, Europe is a collection of connected peninsulas. The two largest of these are "mainland" Europe and Scandinavia to the north, divided from each other by the Baltic Sea. Three smaller peninsulas (Iberia, Italy and the Balkans) emerge from the southern margin of the mainland into the Mediterranean Sea, which separates Europe from Africa. Eastward, mainland Europe widens much like the mouth of a funnel, until the boundary with Asia is reached at the Ural Mountains.

Land relief in Europe shows great variation within relatively small areas. The southern regions, however, are more mountainous, while moving north the terrain descends from the high Alps, Pyrenees and Carpathians, through hilly uplands, into broad, low northern plains, which are vast in the east. This extended lowland is known as the Great European Plain, and at its heart lies the North German Plain. An arc of uplands also exists along the northwestern seaboard, beginning in the western British Isles and continuing along the mountainous, fjord-cut spine of Norway.

This description is simplified. Sub-regions such as Iberia and Italy contain their own complex features, as does mainland Europe itself, where the relief contains many plateaus, river valleys and basins that complicate the general trend. Iceland and the British Isles are special cases. The former is a land unto itself in the northern ocean which is counted as part of Europe, while the latter are upland areas that were once joined to the mainland until rising sea levels cut them off.

Due to the few generalisations that can be made about the relief of Europe, it is less than surprising that its many separate regions provided homes for many separate nations throughout history.

Biodiversity

Having lived side-by-side with agricultural peoples for millennia, Europe's animals and plants have been profoundly affected by the presence and activities of man. With the exception of Scandinavia and northern Russia, few areas of untouched wilderness are today to be found in Europe, except for different natural parks.

The main natural vegetation cover in Europe is forest. The conditions for growth are very favourable. In the north, the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift warm the continent. Southern Europe could be described as having a warm, but mild climate. There are frequent summer droughts in this region. Mountain ridges also affect the conditions. Some of these (Alps, Pyrenees) are oriented east-west and allow the wind to carry large masses of water from the ocean in the interior. Others are oriented south-north (Scandinavian Mountains, Dinarides, Carpathians, Apennines) and because the rain falls primarily on the side of mountains that is oriented towards sea, forests grow well on this side, while on the other side, the conditions are much less favourable. Few corners of mainland Europe have not been grazed by livestock at some point in time, and the cutting down of the pre-agricultural forest habitat caused disruption to the original plant and animal ecosystems.

Eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forest. It stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean. Though over half of Europe's original forests disappeared through the centuries of colonisation, Europe still has over one quarter of the world's forests - spruce forests of Scandinavia, vast pine forests in Russia, chestnut rainforests of the Caucasus and the cork oak forests in the Mediterranean. During recent times, deforestation has been stopped and many trees were planted. However, in many cases conifers have been preferred over original deciduous trees, because these grow quicker. The plantations and monocultures now cover vast areas of land and this offers very poor habitats for European forest dwelling species. The amount of original forests in Western Europe is just two to three per cent (in the European part of Russia five to ten per cent). The country with the smallest forest-covered area is Ireland (eight per cent), while the most forested country is Finland (72 per cent).

In "mainland" Europe, deciduous forest prevails. The most important species are beech, birch and oak. In the north, where taiga grows, a very common tree species is the birch tree. In the Mediterranean, many olive trees have been planted, which are very well adapted to its arid climate. Another common species in Southern Europe is the cypress. Coniferous forests prevail at higher altitudes up to the forest boundary and as one moves north within Russia and Scandinavia, giving way to tundra as the Arctic is approached. The semi-arid Mediterranean region hosts much scrub forest. A narrow east-west tongue of Eurasian grassland—the steppe—extends eastwards from Ukraine and southern Russia and ends in Hungary and traverses into taiga to the north.

Glaciation during the most recent ice age and the presence of man affected the distribution of European fauna. As for the animals, in many parts of Europe most large animals and top predator species have been hunted to extinction. The woolly mammoth and aurochs were extinct before the end of the Neolithic period. Today wolves (carnivores) and bears (omnivores) are endangered. Once they were found in most parts of Europe. However, deforestation caused these animals to withdraw further and further. By the Middle Ages the bears' habitats were limited to more or less inaccessible mountains with sufficient forest cover. Today, the brown bear lives primarily in Scandinavia, the Balkan peninsula, in the North and in Russia; a small number also persist in other countries across Europe (Austria, Pyrenees etc.), but in these areas brown bear populations are fragmented and marginalised because of the destruction of their habitat. In addition, the polar bear exists only on Svalbard, an autonomous Norwegian island region, far north of Scandinavia. The wolf, the second largest predator in Europe after the brown bear, can be found primarily in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, with a handful of packs within Spain and in the Scandinavian countries.

Other important European carnivores are Eurasian lynx, European wild cat, foxes (especially the red fox), jackal and different species of martens, hedgehogs, different species of snakes (vipers, grass snake...), different birds (owls, hawks and other birds of prey)

Important European herbivores are snails, amphibians, fish, different birds, and mammals, like rodents, deers and roe deers, boars, and living in the mountains, marmots, steinbocks, chamoises among others.

Sea creatures are also an important part of European flora and fauna. The sea flora is mainly phytoplankton. Important animals that live in European seas are zooplankton, molluscs, echinoderms, different crayfish, squids and octopuses, fish, dolphins, and whales.

Some animals live in caves, for example proteus and bats.

Demographics

Almost all of Europe was possibly settled before or during the last ice age ca. 10,000 years ago. Neanderthal man and modern man coexisted during at least some of this time. Roman road building helped with the interbreeding of the native Europeans' genetics. In contemporary times Europe has one of the lowest inbreeding rates in the world because of an extensive transport network paired with open borders.

Europe passed well over 600 million people before the turn of the 20th century, but now is entering a period of population decline, for a variety of social factors.

Territories and divisions

Political divisions

Independent states

See also: Table of European territories and regions

The following independent states have territory in Europe:

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia arguably have territory in Europe north of the crest of the Caucasus.
Cyprus is not a part of Europe geographically but is considered to be European culturally (see note below).
Russia and Kazakhstan have territory in Europe west of the Ural Mountains and the Emba River.
The name of this state is a matter of international dispute. See Republic of Macedonia for details.
State union of Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro.
Turkey has territory in Europe west and north of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

Dependent territories

The European territories listed below are recognised as being culturally and geographically defined. Most have a degree of autonomy. In the list below, each territory is followed by its legal status.

• Faroe Islands (autonomous region of Denmark)
• Gibraltar (UK overseas territory)
• Guernsey (British crown dependency)
• Jersey (British crown dependency)
• Man, Isle of (British crown dependency)
• Svalbard (autonomous region of Norway)
• Jan Mayen (autonomous region of Norway)
• Akrotiri and Dhekelia (UK Sovereign Base Areas; located in Cyprus)

Note that this is not a list of all dependencies of all European countries. Dependencies located on other continents are not listed.

Unilaterally seceded territories

Following are breakaway regions of independent states. These regions have declared, and de facto achieved, independence; however, these are not recognised de jure by their home states or by other independent states.

• Abkhazia (from Georgia)
• South Ossetia (from Georgia)
• Transnistria (from Moldova)
• Nagorno-Karabakh (disputed by Armenia and Azerbaijan; located in Asia)

Cyprus

• The island of Cyprus is located 75 km south of Turkey. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was founded in 1983 after the landing of Turkish troops on the island. The political status of TRNC, distinct from the Republic of Cyprus (with a predominantly Greek population), is unclear: the TRNC is only recognized by Turkey and, thus, is different from unilaterally seceded territories elsewhere in Europe. Efforts are ongoing to foster greater co-operation and unity between the two entities on the island.

Territories under United Nations administration

• Kosovo and Metohia (province of Serbia)

Table of European territories and regions

Name of territory, with flag	Region	Area (km²)	Population (1 July 2002 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital
Albania	Southern Europe	28,748	3,544,841	123.3	Tirana
Andorra	Southern Europe	468	68,403	146.2	Andorra la Vella
Armenia	Eastern Europe (Western Asia)	29,800	—	—	Yerevan
Austria	Western Europe	83,858	8,169,929	97.4	Vienna
Azerbaijan	Western Asia (Eastern Europe)	39,730	4,198,491	105.7	Baku
Belarus	Eastern Europe	207,600	10,335,382	49.8	Minsk
Belgium	Western Europe	30,510	10,274,595	336.8	Brussels
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Southern Europe	51,129	3,964,388	77.5	Sarajevo
Bulgaria	Eastern Europe	110,910	7,621,337	68.7	Sofia
Croatia	Southern Europe	56,542	4,390,751	77.7	Zagreb
Cyprus	Western Asia (Southern Europe)	5,995	780,133	130.1	Nicosia (Lefkoşa)
Czech Republic	Eastern Europe	78,866	10,256,760	130.1	Prague
Denmark	Northern Europe	43,094	5,368,854	124.6	Copenhagen
Estonia	Northern Europe	45,226	1,415,681	31.3	Tallinn
Faeroe Islands (Denmark)	Northern Europe	1,399	46,011	32.9	Tórshavn
Finland	Northern Europe	337,030	5,183,545	15.4	Helsinki
France	Western Europe	547,030	59,765,983	109.3	Paris
Georgia	Western Asia (Eastern Europe)	49,240	2,447,176	49.7	Tbilisi
Germany	Western Europe	357,021	83,251,851	233.2	Berlin
Gibraltar (UK)	Southern Europe	5.9	27,714	4,697.3	Gibraltar
Greece	Southern Europe	131,940	10,645,343	80.7	Athens
Guernsey (UK)	Northern Europe	78	64,587	828.0	St Peter Port
Hungary	Eastern Europe	93,030	10,075,034	108.3	Budapest
Iceland	Northern Europe	103,000	279,384	2.7	Reykjavík
Ireland	Northern Europe	70,280	3,883,159	55.3	Dublin
Isle of Man (UK)	Northern Europe	572	73,873	129.1	Douglas
Italy	Southern Europe	301,230	57,715,625	191.6	Rome
Jersey (UK)	Northern Europe	116	89,775	773.9	Saint Helier
Kazakhstan	Central Asia (Eastern Europe)	—	—	—	Astana
Latvia	Northern Europe	64,589	2,366,515	36.6	Riga
Liechtenstein	Western Europe	160	32,842	205.3	Vaduz
Lithuania	Northern Europe	65,200	3,601,138	55.2	Vilnius
Luxembourg	Western Europe	2,586	448,569	173.5	Luxembourg
Macedonia	Southern Europe	25,333	2,054,800	81.1	Skopje
Malta	Southern Europe	316	397,499	1,257.9	Valletta
Moldova	Eastern Europe	33,843	4,434,547	131.0	Chişinău
Monaco	Western Europe	1.95	31,987	16,403.6	Monaco
Netherlands	Western Europe	41,526	16,318,199	393.0	Amsterdam, The Hague
Norway	Northern Europe	324,220	4,525,116	14.0	Oslo
Poland	Eastern Europe	312,685	38,625,478	123.5	Warsaw
Portugal	Southern Europe	91,568	10,084,245	110.1	Lisbon
Romania	Eastern Europe	238,391	21,698,181	91.0	Bucharest
Russia	Eastern Europe (Asia)	3,960,000	106,037,143	26.8	Moscow
San Marino	Southern Europe	61	27,730	454.6	San Marino
Serbia and Montenegro	Southern Europe	102,173	10,280,000	100.6	Belgrade
Slovakia	Eastern Europe	48,845	5,422,366	111.0	Bratislava
Slovenia	Southern Europe	20,273	1,932,917	95.3	Ljubljana
Spain	Southern Europe	498,506	40,077,100	80.4	Madrid
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (Norway)	Northern Europe	62,049	2,868	0.046	Longyearbyen
Sweden	Northern Europe	449,964	8,876,744	19.7	Stockholm
Switzerland	Western Europe	41,290	7,301,994	176.8	Bern
Turkey	Western Asia (Southern Europe)	780,580	69,660,559	89	Ankara
Ukraine	Eastern Europe	603,700	48,396,470	80.2	Kyiv
United Kingdom	Northern Europe	244,820	59,778,002	244.2	London
Vatican City	Southern Europe	0.44	900	2,045.5	Vatican City
Total		10,787,328	707,736,887	65.6

Notes:

1. Continental regions as per UN categorisations/map. Depending on definitions, various territories cited below (notes 2-6, 8-11) may be in one or both of Europe and Asia or Africa.
   
2. Armenia is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe and Western Asia (as per UN categorisations/map).
   
3. Azerbaijan is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
   
4. Cyprus is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe; population and area figures are for de jure Greek-administered portion only.
   
5. Georgia is often considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe; population and area figures are for European portion only.
   
6. Kazakhstan is sometimes considered a transcontinental country in Central Asia (UN region) and Eastern Europe.
   
7. Netherlands population for July 2004; Amsterdam is the official capital, while The Hague is the administrative seat.
   
8. Figures for Portugal exclude the Madeira Islands, west of Morocco in Africa.
   
9. Russia is generally considered a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe (UN region) and Asia; population and area figures are for European portion only.
   
10. Figures for Spain exclude the Canary Islands, west of Morocco in Africa, and the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which are on the northwest of the African continent.
    
11. Turkey is generally considered a transcontinental country in Western Asia (UN region) and Southern Europe.

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